


Dragon Rites

by EffingEden



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Hurog - Patricia Briggs
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-11-24
Updated: 2012-11-23
Packaged: 2017-11-19 09:09:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 977
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/571610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EffingEden/pseuds/EffingEden
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There is something in the walls of Hogwarts, not quite wizard and not quite ghost, and Tom doesn't know what to make of him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The first time he saw him, Tom thought he was just another student. He didn’t wear school robes or hat, but he was too young to be a member of staff - seventeen at the most. He was in the Restricted Section of the library, his focus utterly on the pages of an ancient book, devouring it with the slightest of frowns drawing his dark brows together. Tom watched him surreptitiously as he sharpened his quill with a pen knife, flicking glances at him every few moments. 

The Restricted Section fascinated him, and while he had yet to even start reading the freely available books, the mere fact that he wasn’t allowed the books in that part of the library without permission made him crave the knowledge they held. This boy was the first person he had seen in that section who lingered there. The few other students or teachers who he had watched had taken the book they were after and bolted out again as if afraid of the wisdom they were surrounded by. 

Tom watched as the boy’s mouth twisted in a sudden sneer and snapped the book he held shut, as if what he had read had made him angry. He looked up, and brilliant indigo eyes met grey. Tom hadn’t been able to see the colour of the boy’s eyes before now, and the shade of them was so surprising it made his breath catch. The boy blinked, then returned the book to its place, chaining it to its fellows with pale, slender fingers. “Hello, Firsty,” he said absently as he passed Tom’s desk, walking briskly towards the library’s exit.

“Wait!” Tom heard himself call, forgetting where he was. The glare he got from the Librarian made his skin prickle with annoyance, but the boy stopped, and twisted on his heel to look back at Tom. “I’m Tom,” he said, in a quieter, fierce voice. He didn’t want to be ‘Firsty’, that was what everyone called First Years, like their names were meaningless. Worthless.

The older boy smiled a little, then nodded. “Hello, Tom,” he corrected himself.

Better... though the amusement in those odd, purple eyes frustrated him. He had to work hard to get the older students, and the teachers, to treat him with respect. He waited a few moments, waiting for the older boy to give his name in return, but there was only silence that grew between them, defiant and aloof. The frustration grew in Tom’s chest, and he wanted so badly to teach the boy some manners, but he had to be careful here. He glanced towards the Restricted Section, and asked, “How do you get in there without a permission slip? I didn’t see you give one to Ms Annis.” 

The boy’s gaze moved over Tom’s face, his head tilting slightly to the side. “I had one” he lied. “See you later, Tom.” He turned again, and walked out. As he passed the Librarian’s desk, he turned his head away from her. 

Tom hesitated for a moment, then dashed after him, wanting to press him for information, leaving his half-finished potions essay on the desk. His quick pace earned him a look of disapproval from Ms Annis, but he didn’t care, wanting to know how to get access to those books without a teacher poking their nose in - but the long corridor was deserted. Even sprinting, the boy couldn’t have ducked around the corner in time. How could he simply vanish? After a moment, he was forced to conclude there had to be a secret passage along the corridor, somewhere. He’d find it, and he’d find that boy, too. There were only a few hundred students, after all.


	2. Chapter 2

“Headmaster, it just won’t do!” exclaimed the Gryffindor ghost, Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington said with great exasperation. “He’s a ghost, but does he care? Does he grace us with his presence? I have been here for almost five hundred years and he hasn’t attended one single meeting!”

Tom was in a secret passageway, hand lifted to the tapestry, frozen in place as he heard voices pass through the corridor on the other side. It was after hours, past midnight. He’d finally decided to have a look at some of the books in the restricted section, though it had been difficult to dismantle the alarm spells on the chained books, and had taken him longer than expected to do so. It would be easier next time, now he knew how to do it, but now he had to get to his House without anyone seeing him. 

He was good at being stealthy, he’d stolen food from the orphanage kitchens hundreds of times, so moving through Hogwarts corridors wasn’t much more difficult, but the ghosts, the portraits and Peeves added to the challenge.

Tom lowered his hand and tried to keep his breathing soft and steady, listening to the Headmaster’s shuffling step. “Now Nicholas, you know he doesn’t like to be seen. He has been here for a long time - dear me, he’s been haunting this place before it was known as Hogwarts. I fear the reason for his shyness is that seeing the students upsets him. They grow up so quickly, more are always coming in and leaving.” 

“But isn’t that more of a reason for him to be with his own kind? We ghosts aren’t going anywhere, and yet-”

“I will ask him about it, but I will not force him.”

“Does he have a name? ‘The Hogwart’s Ghost’ is... well, it’s not like he’s the only ghost here.”

“But he was the first,” Dippet said, his voice fading into the distance.

Tom didn’t find the conversation interesting at the time, only wanting the pair to move on. When he heard nothing but silence and his own breath for a minute, he pulled the tapestry back and darted to the dark stairs.

**Author's Note:**

> If I continue this, expect the rating/warnings to change.


End file.
